THE PRINCESS ISLANDS.       124

and fringed with arbutus, cistus, myrtle, and pine trees, among which the convent is embosomed.

The first resident British Ambassador at the Ottoman Court retired to this island in order to recruit his health, which had suffered from the climate, and ultimately died here. His tomb is now destroyed, and the inscription-stone is inserted sideways in the wall above the entrance gate of the monastery, whence it cannot be removed without an Imperial firman.

Four noble lines of cypress trees, sweeping downward to the shore, lead to a splendid palace, formerly belonging to Prince Movroyeni, who after serving in the Turkish army against Russia, was decapitated by the Grand Vèzir for some alleged offence; which proved, however, so inadequate in the eyes of the Sultan, that he struck off the heads of the Vèzier an his son, and bestowed the palace and gardens of the unhappy victim upon the family of Affendooli, whose representative was executed at the the commencement of the Greek revolution. The house was sacked by the Turks, and then become for a time the summer-residence of the Austrian minister, Baron Ottenfels; but it is now a favourite resort of the Sultan, who has caused it to be fitted up in the most costly manner; and who occasionally, during his sojourn on the island, gives sumptuous balls in the European style to the respectable Greek inhabitants and visitors.

Next comes Prinkipo, celebrated for the cruelties and subsequent exile of Irene, the widow of Flavius Leo, who gave its name to the island, which is the largest and most populous of the group. The town, seated on its eastern shore, contains upwards of three hundred inhabitants; its circumference is about eight miles, and the remains of a convent still exist, which was formerly tenanted by a sisterhood of fifty nuns. A monastery in a state of dilapidation, dedicated to the Transfiguration, and now occupied by a solitary monk, gray with age, stands on the summit of one of the heights; while another, crowning the loftiest hill on the island, and inscribed to St.George, is celebrated for its sanctity, and much frequented by the Greeks.

The two remaining islands Neandros and Antirovithi are mere rocks, wholly uninhabited, and only occasionally visited for the purpose of sports, as they abound with sea-fowl and rabbits.

On the verge of the horizon rises Mount Olympus, with its crown of snow, and mantle of vapour; while far away stretches the rocky coast of Asia, hemming in one of the noblest scenes of earth and water under the wide canopy of heaven.